>Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 01:09:07 -0500 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Fidel Denounces Latest Gusano Plots > >Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Three mainstream news items on the Ibero-American Summit in Panama >and the latest gusano plotting against Fidel Castro. > > >Friday November 17 11:26 PM ET >Castro Talks of U.S. Death Plot > >By JOHN RICE, Associated Press Writer > >PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) - Cuban President Fidel Castro said Friday that a >U.S. Cuban exile group is plotting to kill him in Panama, >where he is attending an international summit. Police said later that four >people had been detained in connection with the alleged plot. > >At a news conference held at the hotel where he is staying during the 10th >Ibero-American summit of Latin American and European >leaders, Castro said the Miami-based Cuban-American National Foundation `has >sent people to Panama with the purpose of eliminating >me physically.'' > >`They are already in Panama and they have introduced weapons and >explosives,'' he said. > >After Castro leveled his charges, Panama police detained Cuban exile Luis >Posada Carriles and three others for questioning in connection >with the alleged plot. > >Police Chief Carlos Bares said the four were detained at a local hotel. He >told The Associated Press that they had arrived in Panama on >Wednesday and that there were no guns found in their possession. They can be >held for up to 24 hours. > >In his comments, Castro claimed that the squad plotting to kill him was >directed by Posada, whom he called `a cowardly man totally >without scruples.'' The Cuban-American National Foundation said it has no >links to Posada. > >Ninoska Perez, a spokeswoman for the Cuban-American National Foundation in >Miami, said the group has no one in Panama and that >Castro `should get a new story.'' > >`He has accused us of everything in the book. There is no reason why we >should have to respond to unfounded accusations,'' she said. `He is >the terrorist. They are accusations without proof. Where are the people he's >talking about?'' > >Castro repeated previous claims that Posada organized the 1976 bombing of a >Cubana de Aviacion jetliner that killed 73 people, as well as >several other plots against his own life. > >Posada was twice acquitted of bombing the Cubana airliner. He spent nine >years in a Venezuelan prison before escaping in 1985. > >Castro said Cuban officials would make a formal report to Panamanian >authorities. > >Panamanian Interior Minister Winston Spadafora said he had learned of the >allegation earlier in the day and said Panamanian intelligence >chief Pablo Quintero Luna had been sent to speak with Cuban security about >the issue. > >He said Castro `has had his advance security in Panama for several months. >He has been offered all security and all cooperation.'' > >Castro, 74, veered between the grim and the almost playful as he joked that >there had been `about 600'' attempts on his life. > >A Puerto Rico federal jury acquitted five exiles of plotting to kill Castro >in December. The U.S. Coast Guard stopped a yacht near Puerto Rico >and found rifles, night-vision goggles and satellite navigation equipment; >one of the men said they were heading to kill Castro at the 1997 >Ibero-American Summit in Venezuela. > >Defense attorneys argued the men planned to help Cuban officials to defect >and they needed the weapons for defense. Among those >acquitted in that case was a director of the Cuban-American National >Foundation. > >Castro's statement overshadowed the start of the Ibero-American summit of 19 >Latin American countries along with Spain and Portugal. > >In brief remarks at his arrival, Castro praised Panama for achieving `full >sovereignty'' with the December 1999 handover of the formerly >U.S.-owned Panama Canal and the departure of U.S. troops, who maintained a >presence in the country for 97 years. > >With Panama a stronghold of U.S. influence, Washington's least-favorite >Latin leader had never visited the country since taking power in >1959, though he made a brief stop here in 1948 on the way to a student >conference in Colombia before taking up arms against Cuba's old >government. > >`Today everything has changed,'' Castro said after shaking hands with >President Mireya Moscoso. `There are no troops shooting on students >and the people of Panama own its canal and administer it excellently.'' > >Host of the previous Ibero-American Summit, Castro opened this year's >session with a speech about the meeting's topic, the problems of >children in Latin America. > >Two presidents said they would not be able to attend: Peru's Alberto >Fujimori and Nicaragua's Arnoldo Aleman. > >El Salvador proposed a resolution condemning political violence, especially >that of the Basque separatist group ETA in Spain, but Cuba >reportedly balked at singling out ETA. > > >Friday November 17 6:51 PM ET >Castro Denounces Panama Summit Assassination Plot > >By Tim Gaynor > >PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro said on Friday >`terrorists'' armed by anti-Communist Cuban Americans were in >Panama on a mission to assassinate him during the Ibero-American Summit. > >The 74-year-old communist leader -- who alleges more than 600 assassination >plots against him in the four decades since his 1959 >Cuban Revolution -- made the accusation hours after arriving in Panama City >for the regional meeting. > >`It is my duty to inform you that, as on other occasions when I travel to >these summits, terrorist elements organized, financed and led from >the United States by the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF) ... have >been sent to Panama with the aim of eliminating me,'' he >said. > >`They are now in this city (Panama City), and have brought in arms and >explosives,'' Castro, dressed in military fatigues, told reporters >gathered at a Panama City hotel. > >The CANF, the most militantly anti-Castro of Florida's numerous Cuban >American groups, has in the past denied Havana's claims of >sponsoring terrorism -- including a 1997 bombing campaign on the Caribbean >island. > >Castro said the leader of the alleged would-be assassins was Cuban exile >Luis Posada Carriles, and urged Panamanian authorities to catch >him and his colleagues. He even handed out photos of Posada. > >`The terrorist elements have the idea of shooting or letting off explosions >wherever they deem useful to their means, without worrying in >which collective vehicle the heads of delegations are traveling, or where >they are meeting for any of their scheduled activities,'' Castro >added. > >CANF spokeswoman Ninoska Perez dismissed Castro's charges. > >`Fidel Castro's like an aged rock star that needs to attract attention >somehow,'' she said in Miami. > >`He has accused us of everything from trying to kill him to plotting to kill >President Chavez of Venezuela. This is more of his unfounded >accusations.'' > >Panama-based Cuban exile, Raymond Molina, a member of the anti-Castro >umbrella group Cuban Unity, called Castro's claims ''sick.'' > >`I believe that Fidel Castro is senile and unstable. Only a sick person >could have made those allegations,'' Molina said, adding that about 45 >Cuban-American exiles had traveled to Panama to protest Castro's presence at >the summit. > >`We're here to demonstrate peacefully, to show the Panamanian people and >(visiting) heads of state, the oppressive reality of Cuba under >Castro's dictatorship. No one here has any link to Posada Carriles.'' > >Molina, who practices law in Panama City, said between 200 and 350 people, >mostly Panamanians, were expected to attend a Catholic >Mass in Panama City late on Friday to protest Castro's rule. > >Leaders Gather For Summit > >Leaders of Spain, Portugal and Latin America have been gathering Friday in >the Central American nation for the 10th annual summit of the >Ibero-American group of nations. > >Castro said he had waited until his arrival in Panama to denounce the plot >against him `so that nobody may think any danger or risk can >intimidate the Cuban representation.'' > >He said he was not worried about the Cuban delegation's security. `It is >warned, it has experience and it is a veteran in the fight against >ambushes, treacherous plans and other aggressions from the empire and its >allies,'' he added. > >Castro's statement was made public simultaneously in Panama City and Havana. >There was no explanation of how Cuban security services >had learned of the alleged plot. > >Castro reiterated accusations that Posada was responsible for the 1976 >bombing of a Cuban plane in Barbados that killed all 73 passengers. > >He noted that he had survived a plot to assassinate him at the fourth >Ibero-American Summit in Colombia in 1994, and the seventh >Ibero-American Summit in Venezuela in 1997. > >On the first occasion, Castro said his would-be assassins were about to >shoot him as he was traveling through the Colombian city of >Cartagena with novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez at his side. `In that case, I >would have had the honor of dying with such an illustrious >writer,'' he said. > >During the 1997 summit, a plot to kill him was thwarted when U.S. Coast >Guard authorities stopped a boat with arms on board, near Costa >Rica, bound for the Venezuelan island of Isla Margarita, where the summit >was being held, Castro noted. > >`As you know, the members of that group were absolved in a spurious and >fraudulent trial that took place on that colonized island,'' Puerto >Rico, Castro added. > >The Cuban leader said Posada arrived in Panama on Nov. 5 with false >documents. > >`We believe the authorities of the host country are obliged to locate the >terrorist chief and his accomplices, prevent them from escaping by >any air, land or sea exit, arrest them, and submit them to the corresponding >tribunals for violation of national and international laws,'' he >added. > > >Friday November 17 8:17 PM ET >Castro Talks of Murder Plot at Panama Summit > >By Tim Gaynor > >PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Veteran Cuban leader Fidel Castro seized center >stage at the opening of the Ibero-American summit in Panama >on Friday, where he denounced a plot by `terrorists'' armed by >anti-Communist Cuban Americans to assassinate him. > >While leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal arrived on Friday night >at the regional summit on childhood, the 74-year-old >communist leader warned of the plot by Miami exiles to kill him. > >`Terrorist elements organized, financed and led from the United States by >the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) ... have been >sent to Panama with the aim of eliminating me,'' he said. > >`They are now in this city (Panama City), and have brought in arms and >explosives,'' Castro, dressed in military fatigues, told reporters >gathered at a Panama City hotel. > >The Miami-based CANF, the most militantly anti-Castro of Florida's numerous >Cuban American groups, dismissed the claims as the ravings >of `an aged rock star that needs to attract attention somehow.'' > >As the Castro drama played out on Friday, heads of state from across the >region flew into Panama, with the exception of Nicaraguan >president Arnoldo Aleman, who attributed his absence to family illness, and >Peru's Alberto Fujimori, kept home by a two-month old >political crisis. > >Fujimori's grip on power has been seriously weakened by a nine-week >corruption scandal involving his fugitive former spy chief, Vladimiro >Montesinos, who was caught on video apparently bribing an opposition >lawmaker. > >Fujimori had been expected to play a central role at the annual summit but >even in his absence, fears of instability in Peru will surely come >up in side meetings at the event, if not in the main forum. > >Economic instability in Argentina, Colombia's seemingly endless war against >leftist rebels and cocaine producers, and fears of eroding >democracy in Venezuela, where Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has widened >his powers, are other potential topics of discussion. > >Child Poverty Central Theme > >The summit is set to focus on the keynote theme of child poverty which, >according to UNICEF figures, blights the lives of almost two-thirds >of the region's 200 million youngsters. > >Regional foreign ministers late on Thursday put the final touches to the >meeting's central accord, the Declaration of Panama, which will be >signed by heads of state on Saturday. > >A draft of the final declaration, obtained by Reuters, expresses concern >over `persistently high indices of poverty ... social exclusion and >inequality (together with) insufficient coverage by health and education >services.'' > >The declaration, to be signed by all Latin American presidents including >Castro, also pledges `to promote and defend democracy ... and >political pluralism.'' > >Leaders are set to call on the United States to end its 4-decade-old embargo >against Cuba. > >A proposal by El Salvador for the declaration to condemn the use of violence >by Basque separatist group ETA stirred controversy at the >foreign ministers' meeting, after Cuba refused to sign it. > >The Cuban government prefers to condemn generic acts of terrorism, arguing >that the Caribbean nation is itself a victim of acts of violence >by the United States, which has steadfastly maintained a blockade over four >decades. > >`It's very difficult to understand. We hope that Cuba changes its >attitude,'' Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said. > >================================================================= > NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems > Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us > 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 > http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >================================================================= > >nytcari-11.18.00-01:08:40-6346 > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
